According to Axios, citing U.S. and Israeli officials, Israel has submitted a list of demands to the White House that it wants met before agreeing to a ceasefire in Lebanon.

As Israel considers an invasion of southern Lebanon, citing threats from Hezbollah, it is simultaneously resisting international pressure for a ceasefire. The recent assassination of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah by Israel, shortly after he had accepted a ceasefire, has raised suspicions that Israel may not be genuinely interested in a ceasefire. Meanwhile, the U.S. is reportedly seeking to leverage Israeli attacks to support the election of a pro-U.S. president in Lebanon and weaken Hezbollah’s influence.

Against this backdrop, Israel, which continues its military operations in Lebanon, has sent a list of conditions to the U.S., signaling that it is open to negotiating a ceasefire in response to growing international pressure.

According to Axios, Israeli officials stated that the Israeli Prime Minister’s Office sent the document to the White House ahead of a visit to Beirut by U.S. envoy Amos Hochstein, who is expected to discuss a diplomatic solution to the conflict.

The document reportedly contains two key demands: first, that the Israeli Air Force be allowed to continue operating in Lebanese airspace; and second, that the Israeli military be permitted to engage in “active enforcement” against Hezbollah in southern Lebanon.

These demands conflict with UN Security Council Resolution 1701, which tasks the Lebanese Armed Forces (LAF) and the UN Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) with enforcing the ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah.

Moreover, these demands infringe upon Lebanon’s sovereign rights, making it highly unlikely that they will be accepted by either Lebanon or the international community.

Hochstein is expected to meet with Lebanese Prime Minister Najib Mikati and Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri in Beirut today to discuss Israel’s demands. Berri told Al-Arabiya yesterday that Hochstein’s visit represents “the last chance before the U.S. elections to find a solution” to the ongoing conflict in Lebanon.

Five soldiers from the reconnaissance unit of the Golani Brigade have been killed in southern Lebanon, where Israel is conducting a ground invasion. Hezbollah has announced a new phase of escalation in its conflict with Israel.

According to an Israeli army spokesperson, five soldiers were killed during clashes in southern Lebanon. An officer and two soldiers were wounded in the same engagement, while other soldiers sustained serious injuries in separate skirmishes across the region.

Meanwhile, Hezbollah has declared a new stage in its war against Israel, announcing the use of precision-guided missiles in its attacks. In a written statement, Hezbollah said: “In accordance with the directives of the leadership, a new phase in the conflict with the enemy Israel will begin, which will increase tensions and have repercussions in the coming days.”

Hezbollah also claimed that hundreds of its fighters are fully prepared to counter any Israeli ground assault on villages in southern Lebanon. The group noted that its attacks on Israel have intensified recently, including an increase in rocket fire, and confirmed for the first time that precision-guided missiles have been deployed.

The statement further claimed that 55 Israeli soldiers have been killed and more than 500 injured since Israel’s ground offensive in Lebanon began. It also reported the destruction of 20 Merkava tanks, 4 military bulldozers, and an armored personnel carrier, as well as the downing of 2 Hermes 450 unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs).

The Lebanese Ministry of Health has reported that 2,412 people, including 104 children and 194 women, have been killed, and 11,267 injured, since October 8.

Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah was killed in Israeli airstrikes on Beirut on September 27.

An estimated 100,000 people have been displaced in Lebanon due to Israeli bombardment. As migration from southern Lebanon to Beirut and the northern regions continues, the Lebanese government has announced that more than 461,000 displaced people have fled to Syria.

Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar, who was allegedly holding Israeli hostages as human shields, was allegedly killed in a clash with Israeli soldiers in a building in Gaza. It is noteworthy that there is not a single Israeli hostage in the building where Sinwar is said to have been killed. Israel debunked its own “human shield” thesis.

The Israeli army said it is investigating the possibility that one of the three men it killed in a clash in Gaza was Hamas leader Yahya Sinwar.

The New York Times, citing US officials, reported that Israel has informed the US that Sinwar may have been killed.

“At this time, the identity of the terrorists cannot be confirmed,” the Israeli army said in a statement. The army said there were no hostages in the area where the three were killed. Israeli officials and the Israeli media claimed that Sinwar was hiding among the hostages and using them as human shields.

Channel 12 reported that Israeli soldiers opened fire on a group of “terrorists” on the ground floor of a building yesterday, and that when the soldiers entered the building, they realized that one of the three men killed looked very similar to Sinvar.

Israeli media reported that the final identification is expected to take several hours.

From Israeli prisons to leading Hamas

Yahya Sinwar was considered Hamas’ number two man after the head of the political bureau, Ismail Heniyye. However, he was the de facto leader of the organization, both because of his presence in Gaza and because he headed the team that planned October 7. After his assassination in Tehran, this de facto leadership turned into an official one. Sinwar became the head of Hamas’ political bureau.

Sinwar, whom Israel has declared an ‘enemy of the state’, is at the top of the Israeli army’s wanted list. In 2015, he was added to the US list of wanted international terrorists.

Sinwar spent 23 years in Israeli prisons, from his arrest in 1988 until the major prisoner swap deal in 2011. Israel released 1,027 prisoners in exchange for the release of Gilat Shalit, a Hamas soldier held hostage for five years. Sinwar was one of these prisoners.

Israel, flouting a UN Security Council resolution demanding an immediate cease-fire, has faced international condemnation amid its continued brutal offensive on Gaza since an attack last October by the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.

More than 42,400 people have since been killed, mostly women and children, and over 99,100 injured, according to local health authorities.

The Israeli onslaught has displaced almost the entire population of the Gaza Strip amid an ongoing blockade that has led to severe shortages of food, clean water, and medicine.

Israel faces a genocide case at the International Court of Justice for its actions in Gaza.